The European Union has decided to take action against Meta, Google and Apple in an attempt to reign in on big-tech. The governing body will be investigating these American companies for violating EU's new Digital Markets Act.
An Act For Action
The Digital Market Act is the EU's attempt to foster fairer competition within the digital economy. Implemented on November 1, 2022, this regulation seeks to ensure a level playing field for businesses operating in digital markets.
This act looks into the activities of the companies, that are called 'gatekeepers'. According to EU's own website, "The Digital Markets Act (DMA) establishes a set of narrowly defined objective criteria for qualifying a large online platform as a so-called “gatekeeper”.
In what is seen as the act's first major act, three of the largest and most consequential players in the tech-driven world have come under the radar.
This comes barely a week after the Biden administration's (USA) legal pursuit against the Apple, that saw the government of the day suing the California-based giant of 'monopolizing the market' with its iPhone.
In addition, analysts have also pointed towards the potential break-up of these major tech-giants, that are too big for the most powerful countries in the world. Reigning-in and regulation of tech companies, that are the fulcrum of the 21st century, has been a hot topic, that many countries in Europe, along with the US have actively discussed, if not officially deliberated.
Tech World Under Scrutiny
For Apple, this is a hattrick of predicaments that has knocked on its doors in little to no time. Before being slammed with a legal action by the US government for monopolizing the market, the second most valuable company in the world was also handed with a fine of over USD 1 billion for trying to misuse and quell competition by unfairly prompting and promoting the Apple Music app, compared to other, including the Swedish-streaming giant, Spotify. This penalty was once again imposed by the EU.
When it comes to Google and Meta, their products, and the direct and indirect influence they hold through their content, is an avenue that has been under the scrutiny of governments across the world.
From problematic content on Meta platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram to Google's alleged misuse of its search engine, along with alleged truncation of accessibility to other services, by giving preference to its own extended search engine options including Google Flights, the list of allegations of impropriety is long.
The European Union said that it intends to conclude its investigations within a year.
As part of this process, the companies have been instructed to preserve specific documents, enabling the EU to access pertinent information for both ongoing and future inquiries.
The companies on their part have often defended their record by touting free-market values and in this case, these firms have claimed, that they have deployed a plethora of engineers to meet a Digital Markets Act.
